


A Pilgrim's Path

by Toshi_Nama



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Doubt, Explosives, F/M, Moving On, Opposites Attract, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26301817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toshi_Nama/pseuds/Toshi_Nama
Summary: Even those involved can be tired of war and the politics and institutions that led to it. New beginnings can be found in the strangest of places.
Relationships: Delrin Barris/Minaeve
Comments: 16
Kudos: 10
Collections: Black Emporium 2020





	A Pilgrim's Path

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wintertree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wintertree/gifts), [ritawheeler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ritawheeler/gifts).



He opened the door he'd been directed to and saw two women talking in the shadows. Well, one woman talking, and the other obediently nodding. Of course - the second was one of the Tranquil. He focused on the first woman and her robe. He tensed: a robe meant a mage, which meant conversations he didn't want to have. He sharpened his ears for some hint of where she was from. By the lilt that sang through every word, she was Dalish. Barris hid his sigh of relief. “

Excuse me, I was told to ask for the latest research on despair demons? There’s another breakout of them out near Redcliffe.”

The Tranquil at the table nodded. “That is up to the researcher, Ser Templar.”

Said researcher snapped her mouth shut and he could  _ watch  _ her back tense. He winced. He knew what the Dalish had to deal with, depending on who was near them. Then her shoulders loosened. “I’m afraid I only have basic information for you,” she said as she turned around.

Her accent didn’t match her face. It had no vallaslin, and a smattering of freckles across a mouth that had done far too much frowning of late. The expression didn’t suit the triangular face or scattered, dark hair. And she was wearing Circle robes. He waited respectfully.

“And who are you?”

He coughed at the sharpness in her voice. “Barris. Delrin Barris.” He tried to smile, but only half of his face was willing to make the attempt. “I’m not sure ‘Ser’ still applies, Enchanter…?”

“Minaeve,” she said, tossing her hair out of her eyes. Some caught in her eyebrows. “And I’m no Enchanter...just Minaeve.”

He smiled. Then he fumbled to catch the stack of parchment she shoved into his hands.

“There you go, that’s what I have. If you find anything else out, or get any samples, please bring them back.”

**

It didn’t take long for him to ask around Haven. Minaeve didn’t much like the other mages who were part of the Inquisition, though Lysette said she could be tempted to toss dice with her, Threnn, and Aden at times. He closed his eyes in pain.  _ That  _ was what should have been...mages and alchemists, Templars and common soldiers, all comfortable with each other and working together. But what did they have instead? Another war, more bloodshed, and the destruction of everything he thought he could believe in.

“Were you looking for something, Ser Barris?”

He opened his eyes and then looked down to see the very woman looking up at him. “Hope,” he said far more frankly than he should. It was true, though. He'd believed once. He'd had faith. Now he was nothing but a blind pilgrim seeking what didn't exist.

She blushed deeply, and he could feel his own blood rising. He bit his tongue before he could apologize and say  _ that  _ wasn’t what he’d meant at all, because he’d  _ never  _ proposition a mage, not as a…

The decision almost rocked him. He  _ wasn’t  _ a Templar any longer, was he? The Order had been disbanded, had lost its way.

If he wasn’t a Templar, then what  _ was  _ he?

“Come on,” Minaeve said, looping her arm in his. “You look like something got your tongue. Aden knows just the thing to get it unstuck.”

He let her turn him and take him back out into the mild snows and half-built cabins that had tripled Haven’s size. She knew the way along muddy roads that he didn’t, and his boots were thick enough that only the cold seeped in, rather than the slush. A glance down and he saw she had exchanged a mage’s comfortable slippers for something more appropriate to this place, and was wearing sturdy brown boots. Ram leather, if he wasn’t mistaken, but it had been oiled well.

“Aden! Do you have any of yer special brew?”

The second deep drink of the Alchemist’s ‘medicinal’ flask had blasted past his sinuses and churned in his gut, but his tongue was definitely loose. Of course the conversation wound up leading to the war and politics...how could it not, with two former Templars and a mage in the group?

“...you think Fiona and her group were right?”

Barris winced. He took another sip of whatever was being passed around to buy time, but the truth would come out. He’d never been good at hiding what he felt. “At this point? I don’t give a flaming... They all failed, and now all we can do is try to pick up the pieces and move on.”

“I...oh.”

“He’s right, you know,” Minaeve’s lilt added in. She wasn’t drinking - not as a mage - but she’d eaten her share of the stew. “What’s past is past, and good riddance. The Inquisitor’s got the way of it. Going back won’t help anyone. All that will is going forward.”

Threnn subsided when Lysette wrapped an arm around her waist. Then it was up to Aden to try and turn the conversation into other topics - and out came the dice and tokens. Thank Andraste for that, and for other people who just wanted to do  _ something  _ right.

**

Somehow, they found themselves together again when the real drinking started. The Breach was closed, and everyone was so focused on that, everything else sort of slid to one side. Aden was laughing and dancing with Minaeve around the fire as he watched. After the last wild reel, he wasn’t up to another just yet. It took time to come off of the focus he’d needed for the Breach, not that he’d bring that up here.

“Delrin! Come on, join us!”

He shook his head and patted the log. “I’m saving a seat and a drink for you.” 

She laughed and let the alchemist, dour no longer, spin her around more. Then the bells started tolling. He was the first to realize what was going on, alerts drilled bone-deep. Lysette and Threnn weren’t far behind.

The three of them clambered for a sword, a discarded breastplate, a wooden shield left by some recruit and forgotten - anything that would let them be ready. Aden and Minaeve watched.

“Be ready,” he said to them. “Lysette…”

“I’m headed for the gate,” she said firmly.

“Chantry,” came Threnn’s own contribution.

They ran as the other two started to dig for bandages and potions. Whatever was coming...Barris felt his skin shiver beneath his gambeson. Whatever was coming, it couldn’t be good.  _ Andraste have mercy. _

Tonight, though, it seemed the Bride had none. Shouts and the Commander’s voice carried over all as he saw torches past the shambling palisade. “So many…”

Then he breathed in, and it was even worse. The scent of magic seeped along the ground, reeking of sour blood. He closed his eyes and took another breath, then opened them and started doing what he had been trained to do.

At least this time it was of his own volition - and for a cause that was worthy.

It wasn’t enough. He realized that as they took down another Venatori - there were too many, backed by their pets and Tevene soldiers in heavy armor. He heard the calls he had been expecting - for retreat. Halfway to the Chantry, he remembered the wreckage of the celebration he’d been enjoying. Did they know? They must know - but then he remembered the two, prickly and determined to see their duties out.

How many injured had Aden managed to stitch and potion back together, all the while working on...oh, Hessarian and Maferath. Barris swore as he remembered the heavy amphora against the north ‘wall’. Aden’s true interest was seeing what could combust, and he could see fires everywhere, out of control. If a Venatori struck one even accidentally…

Barris started running.

**

Somehow both Aden and Minaeve were still alive, though she was trying desperately to pull him out of what was left of his cabin. It had collapsed and the heavy shakes of the roof had slid into where he had been setting up pallets for the wounded.

“Delrin! Help me move him!”

He glanced around quickly, then sheathed his sword. Any dangers here were not from people, and the flow of refugees had somehow avoided this corner of Haven. Fire lit the night and he could hear the screams and shouts, but it was distant. Here was only an eerie pool of silence amidst the chaos.

Then he looked again and realized they had no time. The same blast that had taken down the cabin had knocked over at least one of the amphorae, and there was a trickle of some substance reaching out from the cracked clay. It wouldn’t be long til that searching finger found the bonfire.

“Leave me.”

“Like the Void I will,” Barris snapped, “Minaeve, use my shield as a lever. Then we can get his leg out from under this.”

She blinked, but took it from where he’d dropped it, wedging it underneath as he heaved, then darting in to pull out the torn limb from where it was stuck. Her hands glowed blue for a moment, and he watched the wound half-seal.

“Hurry, Aden - it will hold long enough to reach the Chantry, I think.”

The finger was getting closer…

The alchemist ran, and Barris grabbed Minaeve and pulled her forward. “Come on, hurry!”

“But the bandages - the potions! They’re needed.”

He wanted to swear again, but she was right. They scrabbled for the easy ones, tossing them into his gambeson or the pockets of her robes. Then he heard hissing and threw her into the furthest snowbank before diving to join her.

Against his back, the world ended in fire and fury.

In front of him, wide brown eyes met his.

Once they’d limped into the Chantry, she pulled him aside. “You risked your life for me.”

His heart was pounding and he knew there were other responsibilities he should address, but the acerbic elven woman in front of him came first. “I did,” Barris said.

Her lips were cool and soft against his when she pulled his head down.

“Thank you,” Minaeve said, then whirled to help the wounded. He watched for a moment then went to find the others who had chosen the future over past politics and fears.

Maybe they could make a future worth living in. He smiled. Together, even.

In the darkness and snow, they walked the Pilgrim’s Path with the other refugees. Together.


End file.
